World seen lagging on poverty goals

By Jeremy Smith and Svetlana Kovalyova

CISON DI VALMARINO, Italy (Reuters) - Lack of progress in tackling poverty and problems in balancing supply and demand mean fears over how to feed the developing world will persist, a draft G8 farm ministers' paper said on Sunday.

"The Millennium Declaration aimed to halve the proportion of the world population facing poverty and undernourishment by the year 2015," the draft declaration said.

"We are very far from reaching this goal, according to the alarming data provided by the relevant international bodies."

The pledge to ease hunger for millions has been worsened by the financial turmoil while fears about global food security will continue because of price volatility and a tenuous balance between supply and demand, it said.

"Structural factors may underpin prices over the medium term and increased volatility and demand raise important questions about food security for the future," said a G8 draft on the conclusions from the first meeting of agriculture ministers from G8 and G5 countries.

It said prices have fallen for many consumers but remain well above previous lows. The depth of the economic recession means the number of poor and hungry people has increased since last year.

The final version of the document will be issued on Monday and its wording may change before then, officials say.

International aid agency Oxfam said the apparent lack of concrete commitments to tackle the global food crisis meant the three-day summit, held in a hillside castle in northern Italy, would go down in history as a "profound failure."